d20 Adamant Entertainment Shock & Awe.pdf

Shock & Awe

MORALE FOR ALL GAMES

By Malcolm Sheppard

Introduction

I was ready for open war, but not for the assassin’s knife. Late one

night after we laid camp, such a blade took my squire, emptying his

heart before my eyes. Long shadows danced and suddenly, I knew

some of them were those of enemy killers.

Something inside me died for a moment. I took ﬂight when I should

have stayed. They lit the tents and I ﬂed our riverside camp.

Now I lie cold upon this hill above it, but my bravery is born again, and

in payment for chilling my heart I will make a ruin of the killers. I must

do more than have my revenge. I must silence any tongue that might

say, “Coward.”

* * *

Trey cleared the room of remaining drones with quick pulses of gunﬁre.

He hoisted his weapon up, giving Sonya room to slip ahead and work

the armored doors with her talents. She punched the red button and

ducked to once side.

The double doors opened with a hiss, and they saw dozens more

drones, humming and clattering about the hangar. All were armed.

Trey and Sonya looked at each other with wide eyes for a fraction of a

second. Then it was time to run.

Do you want characters to react to the emotional impact of battle? Do

you want them to run when it would be a good idea for them to run, for

a change?

If so, welcome to Shock and Awe ! This set of rules is about morale.

Throughout history, militaries have known

that a warrior needs a trained mind to prevail.

Battleﬁelds are terrifying places, where death can

take the form of a close blade or an anonymous

bullet. In a fantasy world, monsters and magic

are new sources of fear, but the modern world

also has technological terrors to add to the mix.

Aside from self-preservation, compassion also

factors into morale. Only the most heartless

characters can stand to see their comrades cut

down around them.

Two Notes

Before you continue, take note of two things

about this supplement:

• This book is compatible with both the

world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying

game and its Modern counterpart.

Whether you’re a Modern or fantasy

gamer, you’ll ﬁnd that this book is written

for you.

Morale is a matter of training and experience.

Veterans learn to cope with battle stress far

better than green troops. If this is the case, then,

shouldn’t morale be like similar traits in our d20

System© games? What possibilities does this

open up?

• If you own Tactical Implant: The

Deﬁnitive D20 Guide to Cyberpunk

Combat , you own an early version of

these rules. Shock and Awe signiﬁcantly

revises and expands upon that system.

Do not mix and match the two rules sets.

We’ve rebuilt morale from the ground up,

adhering to the OGL system’s logic to make

a rules set that’s easy to work with. Morale

becomes a point system; stress depletes it and

anything from ﬂight to stirring speeches renews

it. We call this ablative morale. With this in force,

characters need more than a weapon and a

steady hand . They need the will to ﬁght – and

win.

What Is Ablative Morale?

Mental preparedness is the key to victory. Battle-

hardened mercenaries can shrug off carnage that

would leave the average person paralyzed with

shock.

Here’s what you get:

In the following system, morale is a limited

resource. Like hit points, it can be chipped away

until characters are too shocked to participate.

Every character has a new trait: morale points.

What Is Ablative Morale? We answer this with

rules for morale hit dice, attacks and damage.

Morale Damage Types and Special Effects.

Dread, terror, creature and energy types – not

all morale damage means the same thing. This

includes guidelines for morale-affecting spells

and FX.

Gaining Morale Points

Determining character morale points is simple:

Morale dice are a function of the character’s

combat experience and willpower. The following

table lists the morale die type a character gains

each time he or she goes up a level. This is a

function of the character’s Will save progression

and hit dice.

New Feats and Optional Rules. This section

includes new feats, talent tress and rules for

propaganda campaigns and insanity. These

guidelines let you connect the system to

character creation and customize it for horror

genre games. Unify combat morale with

supernatural terror in one system!

Each level, characters accumulate morale points

just as they do hit points. Like hit points, morale

points are not rolled at 1 st level. Heroes just

Losing Morale Points

get the maximum roll on the die. A character’s

Wisdom score adjusts their morale points at each

level in the same way the Constitution adjusts hit

points.

Characters suffer morale damage for many of

the same reasons they suffer hit point damage. A

wound or a close shave in combat is a frightening

experience. The amount of damage is less

important than the fact that the hero was struck

at all though, so all morale damage tends to

vary less than hit point damage. However, the

condition of a character’s allies also affects his of

her morale, as do a number of other situations.

Finally, unnatural creatures and traumatic

environmental effects can take their toll. In some

games, supernatural abilities, magic spells and

other “FX” abilities also cause morale damage.

Table 1: Morale Dice Progression

Will Save Hit Dice

d4 d6 d8 d10 d12

Good

d8 d10 d10 d12 d12

Poor

d4 d6 d6 d8 d8

Example : Will has a Wisdom of 16, d8 hit dice

and a class has with a good Will Save. He begins

at 1 st level with 13 morale points. For each

additional level he takes in his current class, he’ll

gain 1d10+3 (his Wisdom adjustment) morale

points.

Morale Attacks

Morale attacks occur much like standard attacks.

They do not always require a dedicated attack

action to perform, however, and normal attack

rolls do not always apply. Instead, use the

guidelines below to determine when a morale

attack occurs and how to resolve it.

Table 2: Morale Attacks

Attack

Roll

Damage Critical Range

Expertise

Intimidate

1d4*

20/x3

Line of Sight

after successful

Attack Roll

Feint

Attack Roll

1d4*

19-20/x2 Touch

after successful

Bluff

Intimidate

1d6*

18-20/x2 Line of Sight and Audible

Nonlethal

Attack Roll

1d3*

Special* Weapon Range

Attack

Suppressive

Ranged Touch 1d6

20/x3

Weapon Range

Fire

Attack

Taunt

Diplomacy

1d3*

20/x3

Line of Sight and Audible

Wound

Attack Roll

1d6*

Special** Weapon Range

* If the victim can see or hear the attacker’s voice, add the attacker’s Charisma modiﬁer to the listed

damage.

**If the attack roll delivers a critical hit, the morale attack also delivers a critical hit.

Expertise: A combatant makes a physical attack

for the express purpose of inspiring fear. The

opponent need not attack the target physically;

he or she could torment an ally or even an enemy

while obviously directing his or her ire at the

intended target. The attacker must succeed with

his or her physical attack. Then, the attacker

must succeed at an Intimidate check (DC 10)

and the target must fail a Will save (DC equal to

the attacker’s Intimidate check) for the morale

damage to strike. Damage Type: Social.

action. On a successful Diplomacy check (DC

10), the victim suffers the listed morale damage

unless he or she succeeds at a Will save with

a DC equal to the Diplomacy check’s result.

Damage Type: Social.

Wound: Whenever the character suffers hit point

damage (whether it has any effect or not), he or

she also suffers the listed morale damage unless

she succeeds at a Will save with a DC equal to

10 + the damage inﬂicted. If the physical attack

inﬂicts a critical hit and the target fails his or her

Will save, damage is rolled twice. Damage Type:

Physical.

Feint: If the attacker succeeds in a physical

attack after using a Bluff check to feint, the target

of that attack suffers the listed morale damage if

he or she fails a Will save (DC equal to the Bluff

check). Damage Type: Social.

Circumstantial Damage

Circumstantial morale damage does not

occur because of speciﬁc actions by NPCs or

PCs, but because of speciﬁc events. Table

3: Circumstantial Morale Damage lists the

sources of such damage. The Special column

lists how often such damage is inﬂicted as well as

Intimidate: On a successful Intimidate check

(DC 10), the target of the attack suffers the listed

morale damage if he or she fails a Will save (DC

equal to the attacker’s Intimidate check). This is

an attack action. Damage Type: Social.

Nonlethal Attack: Whenever

the character suffers nonlethal

damage (whether it has any

effect or not), he or she also

suffers the listed morale

damage unless she succeeds

at a Will save with a DC equal

to 10 + the damage inﬂicted.

Damage Type: Physical.

Suppressive Fire:

Suppressive ﬁre consists of

attacks with ranged weapons

intended to keep a target

cowering. To use suppressive

ﬁre, make a ranged

touch attack against the

opponent, ignoring cover and

concealment. If successful,

the attack does not actually

strike the opponent, but hits

near enough to hinder him or

her. Damage Type: Social.

Taunt: The attacker insults

the victim. This is an attack

how often those affected may make Will saving

throws.

All Will saves versus circumstantial morale

damage have a DC 20. On a successful

save, the victim suffers half of the full morale

damage (rounded up). Thus, even the toughest

minds wear down in the face of intimidating

circumstances.

Table 3: Circumstantial Morale Damage

Condition

Morale Damage

Special

Ally* ﬂees or is injured

2d4

Each occasion

Ally* betrays characters

2d6+Ally Cha

Each occasion

Modiﬁer

Ally* dies

2d4

Each occasion

Character enters

2d4

Once upon entering each combat

a combat in progress

Character forced to make

2d4

Each occasion

a Fort. save to resist

massive damage

Character is alone

2d4

Each round

against multiple opponents

Character’s side

2d3

Each round

appears outnumbered

Debilitating condition

2d6

Each occasion and each round of

combat

* An ally is another player character or NPC who the character has a Friendly attitude to. For the

purposes of these rules, characters have a maximum number of allies equal to 5 or the number of

player characters+1 (whichever is higher).

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: